Cinderella: Another Story
by penguibunny
Summary: Cinderella's step sisters and their lives. Ella is there, just not the main focas.
1. Chapter 1

_**I don't own Cinderella. This story mostly revolves around Ella's sisters. Hope you enjoy!**_

Chapter 1 Marie

Marie glanced at the clock. 5 more minutes. Then this awful piano lesson would end. She wouldn't have to play the dreaded instrument for a week. Marie hated it and she knew that she was no good at it, but her piano teacher would never give up. Her teacher said that she would begin to improve eventually, but so far, Marie had not. After enduring 5 more painful minutes, Marie took her music out and closed the piano. She left and went home.

Her mother was out with her sister Anastasia. So Marie decided to talk to Ella. "Ella," Marie called out. "You done with your chores?" "Almost!", came the reply. So Marie sat in a chair and waited. A few minutes later, Ella came up. "How are you today?", Ella asked, polite as usual. "Good. Thank you.", replied Marie. How was yours?" "Not that bad.", Ella answered. "I saw Lisa today." Lisa was Ella's only friend besides Marie. Marie was about to say something, when her she heard a knock on the door.

Ella got up quickly and opened the door. "Good afternoon Stepmother.", she said. "I hope your day was pleasant." Ella always said these words when her stepmother came home, but Marie knew that she never meant one word of it. Either her mother didn't notice or didn't care. "It was very pleasant, thank you, Cinderella.", Lady Tremaine replied. It was a cruel nickname that Anastasia had given her years ago. "Have you finished all the chores I gave you?" "Yes, stepmother.", Ella answered. "What else do you want me to do?" Her stepmother looked at the clock. "I suppose you could start making dinner.", she said. "Chicken souffle. I trust you know how to make it."

Ella nodded, though Marie could see that she looked exhausted. She had been working all day, and she had barely gotten a moment's rest. Now she was expected to make dinner? Marie couldn't bear the thought of Ella making dinner all by herself. "Mother," she asked, "Would it be alright if I helped Ella in the kitchen? To practice my cooking?" Lady Tremaine thought about this. "Have you practiced piano and french?", she asked. "Oui, madame.", Marie answered. "Then I suppose so." Marie smiled, said thank you, then went to the kitchen.

It was not the first time the Marie had "practiced her cooking", so she knew what to do. She cut up some vegetables while Ella cut the meat. After the mix was ready, Ella put it into the oven. She sat down, exhausted, into one of the chairs. "Why don't you take a rest?", Marie offered. "I can finish." Ella had barely nodded before she was asleep. While the souffle was cooking, Marie proceeded to heat up some soup as an appetizer. A little later, Ella woke up. "Time to take the souffle out.", she said. She took it out while Marie took the soup off the fire. Both of the girls were plateing when Lady Tremaine came in.

"Marie." she asked. "Is dinner almost ready?" "It is.", Marie replied. "We're just plateing it now." "All right then.", her mother said, "Sit down and I'll get Anastasia." Lady Tremaine never called her Anne or Anna as she preferred to be called. Marie knew this was why Anna never had friends over. She hated the name Anastasia and went by Anna. As soon as her mother had gone, Marie hid Ella's dinner so Ella could find and eat it later. Lady Tremaine did not like it when Ella ate when her family was eating. If she saw the food, she would make Ella throw it out and she would have nothing to eat that night. Ella always hid her food or made it later, if her chores permitted. Sometimes, Ella went days without eating. Marie often gave her some of her own food.

Marie had just sat down, when her mother and Anna came down. "What are we having tonight?", Anna asked. "Chicken souffle and potato soup.", Marie answered. "Your sister made dinner tonight.", her mother explained proudly. Marie hated getting all the credit as it had been Ella who did most of the work, but Ella didn't seem to mind. "How is it?", Marie asked. "Very good!", her mother answered. "Yeah.", Anna agreed. Marie was surprised. Anna genuinely liked it! That was high praise, coming from her sister.

Anna hardly talked at all now. Her mother said that it was just a stage that she was going through. Marie was certain she was wrong. Anna had run away once, when she was 14, then came back about a year later. Anna had never told anyone what had happened during that year or why she had run away. She was now 18. After that, she'd been changed. Before, she'd been playful, joyful, kind. Now, she never played with Marie, was hardly ever happy, and had to be reminded to be kind. Marie missed the old Anna, the one who played with her and Ella, the one didn't care what she was called as long as it wasn't late for dinner, the one who had loved them dearly. As Marie ate, she thought about these things.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Anna

Anna had just finished eating. The food was delicious. Marie and Ella had done a very good job cooking. It was the best food she had tasted in awhile. Her sisters were very good cooks.

Despite Ella being her step-sister, Anna always thought of her as her sister.

When they were little, They had all been very close. Anna and Ella had been closest as they were closest in age. They slowly began to split apart. After Anna had run away and come back, all her ties with her sisters had been cut. They had thought that she was dead.

Anna would never forget the day that she had returned. Her mother was sitting in her chair, staring into space, as Marie had told her that she had done this often since Anna had run away. She had knocked on the door and Ella had answered it. Ella couldn't believe it. She hugged Anna and called for her mother to turn around and see who had come home. Her mother did not hear her. Anna put her arms around her mother. Soon, she realized that her Anastasia had come home and she hugged her and cried.

They had had a big celebration. All of her friends and family had been invited to it. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, why she had run away. She never told them. In fact, she rarely talked anymore and she never talked to anyone outside her family. She really had nothing left to say after what she had gone through.

Her mother always said, "It would be easier for me to understand if you told me what happened." But Anna never could. She would never tell anyone what had happened. She couldn't. It was too painful. They would never understand. It had never happened to them. They would never stop trying to find out the truth though.

Anna hoped that she would never tell. She would never even say why she didn't like being called Anastasia anymore. Doing so would have to mention Peter, which would lead to completely different questions, like: Who is Peter?, Do you like him?, How do you know him?. She could never answer these questions. Every once in awhile, Anna felt the urge to tell them something. But everything was always too painful.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Ella

After dinner was finished and Ella had washed the dishes, she went to where her food was hidden and ate it. Her stepmother had no more jobs for her so Ella went up to the attic. It had been an O.K. day. Her stepmother hadn't yelled at her once, Anna had spoken to her, Marie had spent time with her, and she saw Lisa.

Lisa was her best friend besides Marie. Lisa was the blacksmith's daughter. Sometimes, she was dirtier than Ella. They made jokes about this. They called themselves: Lisa in a messa and Ella in troubella. The mess and bella for short. Though it was not a bad day, it was an exhausting one.

Ella really just wanted to go to sleep, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't. Maybe it was because she had just ate. She got out a candle and started to read. Once on the fifth chapter, she started to fall asleep. She blew out the candle and fell asleep. She woke up and made her stepmother breakfast in bed as she did every morning. Today it was sausage and eggs.

Ella knocked on Lady Tremain's door. "Come in.", she said. Ella cautiously came in. She gave her her breakfast then left. Next, she woke up Marie and Anna. Anna got up at once, but Marie had to be reminded several times to get up before she actually would. Then, they went downstairs and Ella made them breakfast. While they were still eating, Ella went up and got her stepmother's dishes.

She then proceeded to do the dishes. When that was done, she started with the laundry. There were so many clothes, that it took her from 8 o'clock to noon to finish washing the clothes and hanging them out to dry. During this time, she ate a late breakfast. After she was done with the laundry, Ella made lunch. After lunch, everybody went out for various reasons. During this time, Ella washed the dishes, cleaned the house, gave food and water to the cat, ate lunch, and read her favorite novel for the 50th time. When Marie came home, Ella was fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Marie

When Marie came home, she saw Ella sleeping in a chair. Ella looked so peaceful that Marie hated to wake her up, but she had to because being woken up by Marie was better than being woken by her mother. She would be home in just a little while and she couldn't see Ella like this. Ella would definitely get a beating.

Marie shook her gently. "Ella, get up.", she said. "It's time to get up." Ella stirred slightly. "What?", she said groggily. "You fell asleep," Marie told her. "Mother's going to be home soon so I had to wake you." Ella didn't hear that, because she had fallen back asleep. _She must really be tired._ Marie thought. After two more tries and 1 cup of cold water, Ella was finally awake. "You didn't have to dump it on me.", she said. Marie replied, "I didn't dump the whole thing on you. You drank most of it. Besides, you wouldn't have woken up otherwise." Ella nodded sleepily.

This was not good. Ella would have yelled at her for the water if she wasn't so tired. "You can barely function.", Marie told her. "Go to bed and I'll take care of dinner." Ella went without an argument, which surprised and worried Marie. Ella almost always argued about Marie doing her work. She must have been exhausted. More exhausted than usual. Though Marie was the youngest, she looked after her older sisters. She wished that she didn't have to. Ella was always so exhausted and busy and Anna so quiet and sad. Marie was the only one who didn't really act the same way all the time.

She was also the only one who didn't have something she was good at. Anastasia was great at anything involving yarn or thread. Ella could sing like nobody's business. Marie couldn't do any of that. Marie went to the kitchen and started preparing dinner. She had just put it on plates and set the table, when Anna and her mother came home.

"Something smells good!", Anna said. "Roast beef.", Marie replied. "Made it myself!" Her mother looked confused. "I did it because I need to practice my cooking.", Marie said before her mother could say anything. "Where is Ella?", she asked. "In her room.", Marie replied. "She finished all her chores." It was not the first time Marie had lied for Ella. Marie would get in less trouble for lying than Ella would not doing chores.

They all went down to the kitchen and ate. Both her mother and Anna agreed that this was the best meal they'd ever eaten. Marie felt proud. Finally, she had found something she was good at.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Ella

When Ella woke up, she had a splitting headache, her throat hurt, and she generally felt terrible. She wished that she didn't have to get out of bed. Then she looked at the clock and realized it was two hours before she had to get up.

Before she knew it, she had fallen back asleep. Two hours later, she woke up. Her headache was worse than before and she still felt horrible, but she still got up and began to make her stepmother breakfast. Ella knew that her stepmother wouldn't care if she was sick.

She was taking the food to her stepmother, when she suddenly felt incredibly dizzy. She made it two more steps before she collapsed onto the ground. Ella tried to steady herself against the wall, but to no avail. She heard the dishes breaking and her last thought before losing consciousness were, _Stepmother is going to kill me._ Then she passed out.

When she woke up, she was in her bed. "Hush now.", she heard Marie's voice crooning over her. "What happened?", Ella asked. "You've had a bad fall, but you're alright now.", Marie reassured her. Ella was confused. "Why isn't stepmother yelling at me?" Marie gave her a strange look. "Don't you remember?" she asked. "Mom and Anna went to visit Mom's friend. They left before you woke up and won't be back until you fall asleep tonight."

Ella still looked confused. "I don't think that they told me that." "Oh, right!", Marie exclaimed. "They said it at dinner last night while you were asleep. Speaking of which, I saved you some dinner if you're hungry. Ella shook her head. That was strange. She was always hungry. Before she could think about it more, she fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Anna

Anna shivered. It was freezing and she had left her shawl at home. She hadn't noticed it at her mother's friend's house because it was very warm there. Her mother had always thought that she had run away because she didn't have enough freedom, so during a rather dull part of the conversation, she had asked if she could go out and she was allowed.

She headed down the road and stood in front of the house. Anna should have been excited. She wasn't. She was about to visit the reason she had run away. Anna was worried. What if she didn't remember her? It had been a year since her last visit and she was so young. Anna could only hope that she would know her. If Anna had never seen her, she would still know her.

She came up to the house and rang the doorbell. A plump young woman answered the door. "Hello, Anna!", she said. "We've been expecting you." It was a good friend of hers, Lillian Kendrick. Anna had sent her a note a few days earlier telling them that she was coming to visit. "Do you think she remembers me, Lillian?" "Of course she does. You're all she ever talks about." Anna came in and saw her beautiful 3 year old daughter.

She had grown so much since the last time she'd seen her. "Hi, Lizzy!" Anna exclaimed. "Aunt Anna!" Elizabeth Kendrick shouted in delight. Anastasia had run away because she was pregnant. She'd given Elizabeth up to the Kendricks. They were willing to give her back, but Anna knew she couldn't take her. The girl thought she was her Aunt. That was fine with Anna. It would be ok if she didn't find out for a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Marie

Marie was puzzled. Ella was always hungry. She looked up and saw that Ella was asleep again. Something was definitely wrong. Marie felt her forehead and found that it was very hot. Oh, dear. Ella was definitely sick.

She went to make some soup. After it had been made, Marie took it back to Ella and fed her some soup. After she had eaten all of it, Marie went downstairs so Ella could sleep. She knew the best cure for anything was sleep.

Marie proceeded to do all the chores. She was unaccustomed to doing manual labor, but she managed to do a job that her mother would accept. She broke for lunch, then finished her chores. She managed to finish right before her mother came home.

"Hello, Marie." Her mother said. "Hello, Mother." Marie replied. "How was Ms. Greyson?" Her mother looked distracted. "She's fine. Where's Anastasia?" Lady Tremaine was always worried that Anna would run away again. Marie thought this was stupid because she kept letting her leave.

"She said she'd be back after dinner." Marie told her. Her mother nodded. "When is dinner, by the way?" "As soon as I make it." Marie answered. Her mother looked confused. "How many times are you going to practice your cooking?" Marie sighed. "Until I'm a Chef." she said. Her mother looked surprised. "I'm glad that you've finally decided what you're going to do." She said pleasantly. "Your cooking is very delicious." Marie nodded in thanks and went to make dinner.


End file.
